Attack of the Killer Plot Bunny

I was merrily writing away yesterday when a dreadful thought occurred as I grabbed a cup of tea and rolled over in my mind what I had just written.

I had gone off on a tangent!

I became seduced by the lure of a plot thread that really had nothing to do with the flow and direction of the main plot. Yes, I had encountered the dreaded plot bunny. That little critter burrows its way into prose and can create a convoluted and twisted plot which, if left alone, can destroy manuscripts as easily as it can a field of vegetables.

What did I do?

I panicked first...then, once I had calmed and realised I didn't have to cut out great chunks of writing, i sat down and calmly went through what I had just written. I caught said plot bunny just in time. I sent in my 'fox' and eradicated all signs of its created tangent from my WIP. I can't believe I didn't see what I had done sooner. It took me all morning yesterday to get rid of the useless thread. Actually, the only reason I caught it was because I got to a point and I thought...hang on...this isn't where I'm supposed to be by chapter 12!

Thank God I write out a bullet point skeleton plot for all of my works. Otherwise I don't know what would have happened. Instead of writing a fantasy involving dragon shifters and nymphs I could have ended up writing Anne of Green Gables or something. *shudder*

Die plot bunny. DIE!